Pleasing Data Points
11/12/2013 | | econ70, Economic data, Economic forecasting, Economic reports, economist on radio, economist on TV, eisenberg and economics, Eisenberg and housing economics, Eisenberg and public speaking, Elliot eisenberg, funniest economist, funny housing economist, Graphsandlaughs, graphsandlaughs and eisenberg, housing sales, MLS, mortgage banking, Multiple listing service, politics and economics, Public speaking economist
While most of the economic data released last week was hum drum, the two biggest data points surprised to the upside. Q3 GDP came in at 2.8%, when all genius economists expected 2%, and employment growth was a robust 204,000, not the 120,000 expected. While two surprises aren’t enough to make me an economic Pollyanna, they matter. And when upside surprises begin to regularly outweigh downside ones, it’s good news.